How Can I Feel More Confident?

futureRNMG · Jul 10, 2005

I know just how you feel. I started on the unit I am working on this week and I need to figure out how to be more confident in my skills. I know that confidence comes with pratice but I also know that people want a nurse who is confident. I would also like to know what to do in this situation.

BETSRN · Jul 10, 2005

I'm a new nurse and I want to be able to feel secure in my skills, but every day it seems I come across something I had no clue about and it feels like I'm at Square One all over again. Does confidence come with time?
Also, how do you 'fake' confidence when you are still practicing IV starts and blood draws? I get so shakey and nervous, it's probably obvious that I'm new. Yet I need to take the opportunites to stick people, otherwise I'll never be smooth at it! Any tips for faking it while you're learning?

No one is ever all trained. Confidence will come with practice. You'll see. Just keep learning and practicing.

TreetopAngel_RN · Jul 10, 2005

It's very true that you learn more in your first year working than you did in nursing school. Everything is new. I'm still learning new skills after 5 years.

I had been working for six months when it suddenly hit me...I'm a nurse! I knew this in my head, but it took that long for me to feel it in all of me. What was the kicker? I was walking back to the med room with all the parphenalia needed to administer morphine sub-cue to a dying patient who was in pain. I had been taking care of this person for a few days...but for some reason it finally hit me.

Good luck!

jnette, ASN, EMT-I · Jul 10, 2005

I'm a new nurse and I want to be able to feel secure in my skills, but every day it seems I come across something I had no clue about and it feels like I'm at Square One all over again. Does confidence come with time?
Also, how do you 'fake' confidence when you are still practicing IV starts and blood draws? I get so shakey and nervous, it's probably obvious that I'm new. Yet I need to take the opportunites to stick people, otherwise I'll never be smooth at it! Any tips for faking it while you're learning?

Yes, confidence DOES come with time, practice, experience. It is quite NATURAL to feel as you do, and is a good safety measure as well. The last thing you want is to be new and overconfident.. that's how mistakes are made.

It's perfectly OK to be nervous and a bit shakey.. and believe it or not, years down the road, there will STILL be things you're not too confident about ! This is how we learn and grow.

As for the IV sticks.. tell your patients to relax.. that you've practiced on HUNDREDS of oranges ! :rotfl: :rotfl: :rotfl: NOT. :rolleyes:

Seriously.. you don't have to "fake" it.. just smile and assume an air of confidence as in VISUALIZING yourself being successful in your stick.. nine times out of ten, as in ANYTHING.. when you visualize yourself succeeding in something, you WILL be successful. If you DO mess up, don't overapologize.. seasoned nurses still miss a stick here and there, too.. so again, simply apologize genuinely and offer to get another nurse to attempt the stick.. no one (patient) has to know you're "new" at this.

You'll be fine.. give yourself time and keep seeing yourself growing and learning and succeeding ! :)

Meerkat · Jul 11, 2005

Thank you everyone...your compassion and understanding really helps. :)

By the way...do you have a 'personal policy' as to the number of times you stick someone before you get someone else?

elizabells, BSN, RN · Jul 11, 2005

Thank you everyone...your compassion and understanding really helps. :)
By the way...do you have a 'personal policy' as to the number of times you stick someone before you get someone else?

At our hospital it's two, then you call the IV team

I'm still "just" a student, but whenever I don't know something (and duh, that's pretty often) I just smile real big and tell 'em I'll be right back. Nobody's said anything yet... :uhoh21:

allnurses Guide · Jul 11, 2005

Role play it in your head, what ever it is you are working on getting down next. Its hard to practice one thing over and over on real people except over time, but you can do it hundreds of times in your imagination. Sounds silly, but its how I got through ACLS.

As far as IV sticks go, I'm pretty good at it, so I stop at 2. If I can't get it in 2, I'm not likely to. In general, 3 sticks and you're out, if the patient lets you get that far :chuckle Never go more, leave some sites for the next person.

Confidence grows slowly, hardly even noticeably, one day you'll simply realize, hey! I'm getting good at this!

TreetopAngel_RN · Jul 11, 2005

Thank you everyone...your compassion and understanding really helps. :)
By the way...do you have a 'personal policy' as to the number of times you stick someone before you get someone else?

I went directly to LTC after nursing school and we don't have many opportunities to do blood draws or IV sticks. Consequently, I haven't had a lot of practice. I stop at two sticks. I have found that after the first miss the patient loses a bit of confidence in me and after the second miss my confidence is shaken. However, even though I have not had much practice, I only miss 1 in 25 sticks.